$250K Awarded For GED Tutoring On Standing Rock

Bismarck, ND

U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp says AmeriCorps is providing more than $250,000 in federal funds to provide GED tutoring and testing services to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe members through Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates.

The reservation of 2.3 million acres straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border.

The money will support 15 full and part time AmeriCorps members to tutor residents of eight communities on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation for three years. The goal is to help 100 people between the ages of 16 and 46 years old who have not finished high school successfully complete the GED test and earn a certificate.

Heitkamp says only about 50 percent of Native American students graduate from high school, compared to more than 75 percent for the general population.